I have really been down on films of late. Pure crap, most of them, horribly bad or ill conceived stories with techno bullshit poured on top like molasses on piles of dung.

This is a real film, an intriguing story with complex and flawed heroes. It's dark as hell, like the real world in which we live.

I can't recommend the film enough.

I did inhale.

but we are about an hour and a half away from a theater. Will wait to rent the DVD and enjoy it at home..., where I can adjust the dialogue volume to my chain saw ravaged ears !!! "Sounds" like that could be a critical element in this film. Was thinking that the "War Horse" film might be worth the time and discomfort (Julie has chronic back pain) to warrant her enduring that. The review I read highly praised the cinematography. And I doubt that dialogue is a real essential element of the film.

lifted from the Amazon site:

Authors who are only published posthumously rarely get the attention they deserve', or any attention at all. Fortunately, such is not the case with the late Stieg Larsson's bestselling Millennium trilogy -- it starts off slow, and soon winds itself into a tight knot of tautly-written thriller and mystery elements. It's raw, bleak, intensely disturbing noir.

In "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo," take-no-prisoners journalist Mikael Blomkvist has just lost his reputation, his savings and his freedom (hello, jail sentence!) after a nasty libel suit from an executive named Wennerström.

Then he's unexpectedly contacted by aged industrialist Henrik Vanger, to discover what happened to the guy's grandniece. He's offering evidence on Wennerström, so Mikael has no choice but to accept -- and as he investigates the sinister Vanger family, he joins forces with Lisbeth Salander, an eccentric, abused computer hacker. And as Mikael unearths the clues to Harriet's disappearance, he also finds some skeletons long kept buried.

"The Girl Who Played With Fire" finds Mikael investigating sex trafficking in his own country, and young girls who are sold into it. Unknown to him, Lisbeth is keeping very close tabs on his work -- especially since she was abused as a child, and now plots revenge on the sex traffickers. But when she's accused of murder and ends up on the run, Mikael must discover what lies at the core of these crimes...

And finally, "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest" takes place directly after the second book. Lisbeth has been shot in the head, her malevolent father Zalachenko is in the same hospital claiming that she tried to kill him, and some nasty government forces want her locked away, as she was as a child. Her only hope lies in Mikael, who must unravel a government conspiracy formed around the young hacker...

Larsson's books are a unique blend of old and new -- he takes the usual mystery/thriller tropes (locked room mystery, government conspiracies) and enfolds it in a ruthless, blistering look at modern Swedish society and sexual aggression. It's a dark, dangerous, unfair world where the truth is quashed, powerful forces conspire against individuals, and women are treated horribly -- usually shown via the eccentric, punky "girl with the dragon tattoo."

His prose is rather bleak and often quite gritty, and a certain brand of understated passion shines through -- the kind that feels the need to express itself even though it takes place in fiction. And while most of the first book focuses in Mikael, in the second and third Larssen's style splits in half -- one half is the more staid, ordinary perspective of Mikael and others, and the other half is the wild nihilism of Lisbeth ("If death was the black emptiness from which she had just woken up, then death was nothing to worry about. She would hardly notice the difference").

Mikael and Salander make an intriguing odd couple. He starts world-weary and demoralized that he seems to care about nothing, but regains his passion for the truth; the only downside is that he's a bit Marty Stuish, since all women seem to adore him. And Salander is a mass of hurts and quirks -- she's a vibrant, wild genius who lashes out at those who hurt women, and has been constantly tortured by those around her since childhood (even as an adult, she's forced to have a legal guardian).

Take your average thriller/mysteries, smother them in disillusioned, morally-bankrupt noir... and you'll have something like the Millennium Trilogy. A hard read, but worth the journey.

I did inhale.

my daughter swears the original Swedish version movie is even better.

to get the Trilogy DVD set, at a good price.

Haven't seen the original on DVD but have read the books in hard copy and on kindle multiple times.

Complicated intriguing story lines with great social commentary. Excellent!

I tend to find the originals always better than their Hollywood re-makes, maybe because it's easier to suspend my disbelief or because they truly are better.

But I had heard that this time Holllywood did a good job.

What I find truly curious, is that Hollywood studios keep leasing the originals to Netflix as promotional devices, when their remake is not quite as good.
There's just no way Tim Burton is going to top the original "Dark Shadows".

was much better and the scenes more intense. She said she felt the Hollywood version was too commercialized and not story driven. Which is why she likes indie movies better in general.

I read the first book and will dive into the second one soon. Initially, I had no intention of seeing the movie. I rather watch comedy. But Emma Gray suggests women should go see the movie despite the horrendous sexist marketing for the American version. Hollywood just doesn't get it. The original Swedish title for the movie "Men Who Hate Women" was changed for the English language market despite the fact that violence againt women is a global pandemic.

The story is riveting. I couldn't put it down. I've ordered the just released extended version of the original Swedish box set.

_{Sexual inequality is "The Mother of all Inequalities".
Liberate female sexuality and you will eliminate racism, homophobia, financial greed, and violence.}

Backpaddling from the initial praise? I wonder why? Oh, never mind.

_{Sexual inequality is "The Mother of all Inequalities".
Liberate female sexuality and you will eliminate racism, homophobia, financial greed, and violence.}

The movie was spectacular.

It's the people that I am surrounded by that disappoint.

Checked again and this week the movie came in third behind two of the previously mention piece of shit blockbusters.

As for the books, the writing seems a little plain, but it could be something gets lost in the translation.

The stories are great.

I love Ms. Salander.

I did inhale.

Apparently, Stieg Larsson had almost finished writing the 4th book (he planned to write 10). His partner is unable to complete it because of copyright issues with other members of the family. Larsson did not leave a proper will.

I love Salander too.

_{Sexual inequality is "The Mother of all Inequalities".
Liberate female sexuality and you will eliminate racism, homophobia, financial greed, and violence.}

there was something lost in the translation to English from Swedish.